Steelers Draft Athletic Robert Spears-Jennings in Seventh Round

Steelers Draft Athletic Robert Spears-Jennings in Seventh Round

The Pittsburgh Steelers added a “freak” athlete on Saturday when they selected Oklahoma safety Robert Spears-Jennings with their first of two seventh-round picks in the NFL Draft.

The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman ranked Spears-Jennings No. 82 on his 2025 College Football Freaks List. He earned this spot with a 510-pound squat, a 330-pound bench press, and a GPS speed of 21.6 mph.

Spears-Jennings played four seasons at Oklahoma and started most of the last two. In 2023, he started 12 of 13 games, making 59 tackles (33 solo), 1.5 tackles for loss, one interception, two pass breakups, and one forced fumble.

Spears-Jennings played in the East-West Shrine Game, then ran a 4.32-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine. His vertical jump reached 38 inches at Oklahoma’s pro day.

Spears-Jennings’ best season came in 2024, when he tied for fifth in the FBS with four forced fumbles. That year, he also achieved career highs with 66 tackles and five tackles for loss and recorded his 2 1/2 college-level sacks.

During his four seasons with the Sooners, Spears-Jennings appeared in 47 games, starting 25. Over that time, he recorded 178 tackles (101 solo), eight tackles for loss, two interceptions, four pass breakups, two fumble recoveries, and five forced fumbles.

"He's a guy that can play in the box," Steelers assistant head coach/secondary Joe Whitt Jr. said. "He has the speed to play in high zones. So, he's not limited by anything in terms of skill set. But we'll use him depending on the guys around him."

Spears-Jennings’ grandfather served in the Army, and both parents served in the Navy. As a result of this military lifestyle, he grew up in eight different states: South Carolina, Maryland, Florida, Virginia, Arkansas, Georgia, Texas, and Oklahoma.

Despite his nomadic childhood, Spears-Jennings spent his entire college career in Norman after being recruited from Broken Arrow (Okla.) High School. As a senior in 2021, he was a four-star recruit who recorded 56 tackles, two tackles for loss, and four interceptions on defense, as well as 36 receptions for 626 yards and eight touchdowns on offense.

Spears-Jennings also ran the 100- and 200-meter dashes for the track team.

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